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“Mr. White showed blatant, deliberate and repeated disregard for both game and endangered wildlife and the laws that protect them,” said Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest. “Yet under this deal he escapes spending a single night in jail. This weak deal sends the wrong message to other potential poachers that the courts don’t take wildlife abuse seriously. Looking at the example of Bill White, I’m wondering what a poacher would have to do to get to jail.”

Twisp rancher William White, in agreeing to admit guilt on wolf
poaching and other wildlife violations in federal court, is expected to
be placed on three years of probation and pay penalties of $38,500. He
will also lose the right to ever own a gun again.

“Because he’s pled guilty to a felony conviction … he will not be
able to own firearms,” said Joseph Harrington, first assistant U.S.
Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.

White entered an agreement with federal prosecutors April 4, pleading
guilty to three criminal counts related to killing endangered wolves
and illegally transporting wildlife across the United States border. A
sentencing hearing is set for July 11.

As part of the federal plea, White also agreed to plead guilty to two
state wildlife violations – hunting bears with dogs and hunting a
trophy deer out of season.

White, his son Tom, and Tom’s wife, Erin, pleaded innocent last June
to federal endangered species and wildlife crimes outlined in a 12-count
grand jury indictment that included killing at least two, and as many
as five, endangered gray wolves and conspiring to smuggle a wolf pelt to
Canada.

Tom and Erin White are scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing Tuesday
(April 17) in U.S. District Court, according to court records. Tom
White was charged with six counts, including taking an endangered
species. Erin White was charged with four counts in connection with the
attempt to ship the wolf pelt to Canada.

The charges resulted from an investigation that began in December
2008, when a package that had been left with FedEx in Omak and addressed
to a Canadian resident was discovered to be leaking blood. When opened
by law enforcement officers, the package was found to contain a fresh
wolf hide.

Investigators eventually searched White’s residence and computer,
which “revealed that he was involved in a conspiracy to kill wolves and
to export a wolf hide to Canada,” according to Michael C. Ormsby, U.S.
Attorney for Eastern Washington.
Evidence also revealed that White had illegally killed a moose and deer
in Alberta, Canada, and illegally imported that wildlife into the United
States.

In federal court last week, White, 62, pleaded guilty to one count of
conspiracy to take endangered species, one count of conspiracy to
export endangered species, and one count of unlawful importation of
wildlife. The first two counts each carry a maximum penalty of up to one
year in prison, and the third count caries a maximum penalty of up to
five years in prison.

In addition to serving three years of probation and paying $38,500 in
criminal fines, restitution and other penalties, White agreed to
forfeit firearms and other items related to the violations.

The grand jury indictment charged White with nine counts of wildlife
violations; the plea agreement addresses three of them. “We wanted to
make him accountable for his conduct (related to) what we thought were
the most serious offenses,” said Harrington.

The plea agreement related to the state bear hunting charges would
call for White to lose hunting privileges for five years, said David
Gecas, deputy Okanogan County prosecuting attorney.

Gecas said he considered the penalties set out in the federal and
state plea agreement “appropriate.” He said the plea agreement on the
state charges would likely be entered after the July sentencing hearing
on the federal charges.

The White family raises cattle and timber on a 600-acre ranch near
Lookout Mountain, bordering forested land where a gray wolf pack, the
first confirmed in Washington in 70 years, was discovered in the summer
of 2008. Wildlife officials believe illegal poaching decimated the pack,
which had as many as 10 animals in July 2008 (see accompanying story).

Scott Fitkin, a state Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist who
has monitored the wolf pack over the past three years, said he welcomed
the news of White’s plea agreement. “I think it is a fairly significant
penalty and glad to see it was viewed as a serious series of offenses,”
Fitkin said.

Asked if he thought it sent a message to people who might consider
illegally killing endangered species, Fitkin said, “I certainly think it
would give them pause.”

However, Conservation Northwest, a nonprofit wildlife conservation
group that helped document the Lookout Pack, said it was disappointed
with the deal that White and prosecutors worked out.

“Mr. White showed blatant, deliberate and repeated disregard for both
game and endangered wildlife and the laws that protect them,” said
Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest. “Yet under
this deal he escapes spending a single night in jail. This weak deal
sends the wrong message to other potential poachers that the courts
don’t take wildlife abuse seriously. Looking at the example of Bill
White, I’m wondering what a poacher would have to do to get to jail.”

Friedman said that statements by White’s lawyer that his client was
defending his livestock is contrary to the record of the case. “There is
no evidence that the White’s few cattle were harmed by the wolves (not
to mention bear, deer and moose that White also poached), or that White
attempted any other remedy besides destroying the state’s first wolf
pack.”

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the investigation of the
wildlife violations case involved many agencies, including the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, the Washington State Department of Fish and
Wildlife, the Washington State Department of Agriculture, the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, Alberta (Canada) Fish and
Wildlife Division, and the Omak Police Department.